


Feels Like Jealousy

by Tahyra



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Background Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Pietro/Wanda friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 18:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4715507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tahyra/pseuds/Tahyra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Weeks after the Sokovian incident, Pietro is live and well. </p>
<p>Things for Wanda, however, can never be the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Laps

**Author's Note:**

> How dare they kill Pietro. I love overly-protective Pietro.

Brown hair whipped across her face blocking her view of the track. She reached up and swept her hair from her face, pinning it to the back of her head with one hand. Her other hand reached over her shoulder, holding back the rest of her mane. Wanda blinked, almost missing the blue blur that appeared and disappeared just as quickly. A wall of air hit her again, this time only pulling a few stray hairs over her face. She smiled. She’d lost count of how many laps Pietro had done, not that she really cared. He was alive and healing. Another blur passed her. Alive and healing and getting faster.

 

Even before Strucker’s experimentation, Pietro had been fast. Wanda could remember running, running for their lives through the streets of Sokovia. Pietro would take her hand, squeezing it gently, and pull her along behind him. She’d trip and stumble and her brother would pull her right back up and tug her into a run again. His speed kept them alive. It had surprised her when Strucker’s experiments worked. Wanda had woken up to find a constant stream of red pouring out of her fingertips, twisting around her room, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. She had not been surprised, however, to learn that her brother could not stay still.

 

“ _His cells… they’re vibrating and replicating quickly.”_

_“Sedate him.”_

_“We can’t catch him, sir. He’s too fast.”_

_“I said: Sedate. Him._ ”

 

This bought Wanda hope, her brother could still run. He was fast, faster. He could run from anything, he would be safe. “As fast as a bullet” they said. Not faster.

  

Four weeks ago Wanda felt her heart being ripped from her chest. Pietro had been outrun. The bullets ripped through his chest, ripping through hers in turn. She hadn’t seen it, but she felt it. Pain became her world. A few moments of pure pain, and then… he was gone. Nothing. There had been a gaping hole in her mind where he used to be. She had been so empty, a hollow shell of a person.

  

A tear rolled down Wanda’s cheek at the memory. She shook her head to clear it. It was not something she should dwell on. Another blur formed in front of her. She allowed another small smile to pull on her lips as he passed. It was okay, he was alive now. The past did not matter, she had her brother back: nothing else mattered. Wanda drew a breath and reached out to him with her mind. A frown worked itself onto her face as she focused a little more. She could feel him, he was there. Wanda pushed harder. He was right _there_. Her mind brushed against the edges of his subconscious, but she could not go further. Her face contorted a little more, she ignored the dull ache forming behind her eyes. Why could she not-

 

“He’s getting faster.”

Wanda jumped, a small squeak escaped her lips. The Vision silently touched down next to her. Wanda pulled her mind back in, trapping her magic in her skull again. The dull ache disappeared as quickly as it had formed. She held her breath a moment to ground her back in reality.

"I’m sorry?” She muttered, finally looking at him.

 “He’s getting faster,” Vision repeated, nodding his head towards the track. “He just completed a lap 0.21 seconds faster than his personal best.”

 Wanda looked back out to the track. Her brother passed her two more times. “I thought Cap was timing him?”  

 “He is. He is timing his overall run. Your brother completes his laps too quickly to manually time.”

 “But you just said…”

 “I’ve been timing his singular laps, yes.”

 

Pietro stopped running, jogging slowly back towards Steve Rogers, who pressed a button on the stopwatch. Pietro wiped the sweat from his brow and dropped down, placing his hands on his knees to steady himself. He took a few deep breaths before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and straightening up. A toothy smile appeared on his features and then he began to talk animatedly to the Captain. Wanda pulled her coat tighter around her body, suddenly feeling the chill in the wind. She realised the Vision was still standing next to her, watching Pietro’s conversation with Cap. She took this opportunity to marvel at him. He fascinated her. He was flesh and metal, mature and yet childlike, peaceful but still held a power Wanda was sure could not be matched. Such a curious being. Vision looked at her, a questioning look on his face. She flushed pink and dropped her gaze to the floor. Mama had always taught her not to stare, and there she had been, staring. Wanda raked through her brain trying to find something to say to cover her tracks.

 

“Why?” That was all she managed. She twisted the string on the end of her coat zip around her finger, pulling it tighter until it hurt a little bit punishing herself for setting herself up for an embarrassing situation. The Vision frowned, tilting his head downwards slightly in an attempt to make sense of her question. Wanda paused. “Why do you time his laps?”

 Vision looked over to Pietro, then at her and shrugged. “You fascinate me.” Wanda almost laughed, but she swallowed it, pushing another lock of hair behind her ear. “You are both humans… and yet you have extraordinary abilities. I’m trying to understand you. To understand your limits.”

 “I’m trying to understand our lim-”

 “Sister!”

 “-its too,” Wanda finished. “Can’t you let me finish my sentences before you appear and interrupt like that?” She asked her brother. She found her face buried in his shoulder and so wrapped her arms around him.

 “One hundred laps. Fifty two seconds,” Pietro announced, pulling away to look his sister in the eye. “That’s where I was before… before, you know…!”

 Wanda exchanged a glance with Vision, who nodded his farewell. He turned and left the twins on the edge of the track. Wanda vaguely noticed Pietro glancing between her and Vision with a blank expression.

 “What was he doing here?”

 She ignored her brother’s question and opened her mind again. Reaching out for Pietro now they were touching. She didn’t want to admit it… but something was wrong. The dull ache formed behind her eyes again and she struggled to push herself into Pietro’s thoughts. This used to be so easy. It used to be a river of thoughts, flowing from one twin to the other. There used to be no secrets between the two. But now… Wanda gripped Pietro’s shoulders a little tighter, her jaw clamped shut… now it was so difficult. She tried communicating with him. _Brother._ She felt it reach the bridge between their minds, then the word stopped, pressing against an invisible wall. It shattered.

 

Wanda stepped back and gasped. Scarlet filling her vision. Her head hurt, the ache wasn’t dull anymore.

 “Wanda?” Pietro caught her wrist and pulled her to look at him.

 “You’re… sweaty…” She mumbled, wiping her hands on her coat.

 “Yes. I am. Are you okay? You look-”

 “I’m fine,” Wanda lied. She touched her head. Pietro couldn’t know about this. He’d worry far too much.

 “Sister, you look pale. You’re not f-” Her brother gripped her shoulders, preventing her escape.

 “Pietro, I’m fine.” She snapped, pulling away from her brother’s grip. “I’m just tired.”

 

Ignoring her brother’s look of pure betrayal, she turned on her heels and headed back to base. He couldn’t know. She could not let him know that their connection was broken. It would break him.


	2. Shove

The bathroom tiles were heated. Wanda had never come across such a luxury before now. In fact, she never realised that something like this could even exist. The bathroom itself was probably bigger than the living room and kitchen of her old family home combined. It scared her, there was so much space to herself. Wanda stepped up to a floor-length mirror, wrapping herself in a towel. Having secured the towel into place, she reached forwards and wiped the steam from the mirror with her forearm. The dark shadows had finally disappeared from beneath her eyes, her cheeks were fuller. Wanda sighed. Life had returned to her, she almost glowed. Almost, not quiet.  

 

She pressed her finger against her reflection’s forehead, letting a deep sigh escape her lips. She ran her finger down the nose and dropped her hand beside her.

“Why can’t I reach him?” she murmured to herself, tapping her leg impatiently. Wanda opened the draw next to her and shifted through it, searching for her eyeliner. “It was never this difficult before. It’s never been this diffi- Where are you, you stupid piece of… oh.” She pulled out her eyeliner and shook it half-heartedly. She unscrewed the lid, placing it carefully on the side. She looked herself dead in the eye. “It’s not like you can’t read the others, Wanda…” She rested her arm against the mirror to balance herself. “Why can’t you read your own flesh and blood?”

 

Wanda tilted her head, judging the thin black line on her upper lid. She chewed her bottom lip, deciding to take the line under the eye too. She repeated on the other side, sighing at how uneven her eyes looked. Closing her eyes, she placed her forehead against the cold glass of the mirror. She unlocked the cage keeping her mind in, letting it seep out into the space around her, searching for others to read. She found Sam easily. Wanda paused. She was not allowed to actually _read_ anyone… but… she needed to experiment. She needed to check to see if her powers were working properly.

  _-even do that? It’s not like they actually love each other. Oh man. Wash your brain, Sam. Wash it out. JEALOUSY. She just confused him… SADNESS. He didn’t mean it. She just… just…_

Wanda blinked, struck with a strong image. _Steve pushed against his desk, Natasha’s lips firmly pressed to his. His hands reached up to push her away but found themselves tightening around her arms. The assassin pushed him further into the desk._ It disappeared. _Dammit Sam. Stop thinking. Why didn’t you just tell him sooner? Friend. You’re his fr-_ Wanda pulled out. And that was why she wasn’t allowed to read people’s thoughts. She opened her draw again, dropping the eyeliner back into it. She didn’t need to know about people’s romantic complexes. Her hand closed around her lipstick and she ripped off the lid. She had her own issues to deal with. Wanda pouted her lips and tilted her head again, scarlet had become her colour recently, and it really did work on her.  

 

Her hands found her hair, it was still wet. If she let it dry naturally it would be a mass of tangled curls later. She pondered for a moment and decided to leave it. She blinked, her mind brushed against Pietro’s. It had done that on its own, without her pushing. He felt so familiar. So warm and safe, but distant. She focussed, gently nudging her mind against his, attempting to trigger him to respond. When no response came, she nudged again, more forcefully. Nothing.

“Come on… Hear me, brother.”

A dull ache settled behind her eyes, which she ignored. It was becoming a common occurrence. The more she tried, the more the ache returned. If she wasn’t so desperate to telepathically link with her brother again, she’d probably worry, but for now it was a minor inconvenience. They used to be able to communicate silently to each other, even when separated by a few miles of land. And now she could not even create a link.

 

Wanda smacked her hand against the glass in frustration. She squeezed her eyes tight, holding her breath, and pushed her entire mental force against that invisible wall surrounding Pietro. The dull ache became sharp. Her hands instinctively curled into fists, fingernails digging into her palms. Gritting through her pain, she shoved harder, slamming her conscious against his.

 

_CONTENTNESS. –uch good food-_ Wanda raised a hand to her forehead in an attempt to dull the stabbing sensation. – _nk I’m fast enough to stea-_ She grunted and grit her teeth. _CONFIDENCE_ – _hah, didn’t – ARROGANCE - even see m-_ Pietro’s trail of thought were fragmented and her concentration was punctured by pain. A warm sensation spreading over her lips made her open her eyes. She broke the connection instantly and raised a hand to touch her face. Blood tricked down from her right nostril, blending with the scarlet of her lipstick. She attempted to wipe the trail away with the back of her hand, spreading the blood over her cheek. Wanda licked her lips, tasting her blood. Her skull felt as if it was splitting.

“Oh,” She sighed. She looked down at her hand. “I won’t try that ag-”

Her world went black.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first actual attempt at a multi chapter fic. I literally have no idea what I'm doing or where this is going.  
> Let's see how badly this can go.


End file.
